Q: What is the current evacuation situation around the Fukushima reactors?Ī: With radiation levels decreasing due to natural attenuation as well as the stripping of surface soil and decontamination of buildings, evacuation orders have been gradually lifted in areas surrounding the crisis-hit plant. They are the only two accidents to be classified on that level to date. Q: How does the Fukushima nuclear crisis compare with Chernobyl?Ī: The Fukushima plant meltdown is ranked the highest 7 on an international scale of nuclear crisis severity level, on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Under the country's latest energy strategy toward fiscal 2030, which was compiled in 2018, Japan aims to have renewables account for 22 to 24 percent, fossil fuels 56 percent, and nuclear power 20 to 22 percent in the country's electricity generation. A total of 24 reactors are slated to be decommissioned, including the six at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, while nine have not applied for restarting. Four of them are currently in operation.Īnother 18 are in various stages of the approval process. 8, 2021, nine reactors have been restarted under the stricter safety standards. The new safety standards introduced in 2013, which are mandatory for restarting reactors, oblige plant operators to build facilities that can withstand natural disasters as well as terrorist attacks, such as planes being flown into them, without succumbing to major damage such as leakage of radioactive materials.ĭue to huge costs to implement government-mandated new safety measures, some power companies have decided to decommission their plants.Īs of Feb. Q: How has Japan's nuclear energy policy changed following the disaster?Ī: Japan shut down all its commercial nuclear reactors by May 2011 and launched the Nuclear Regulation Authority, a new nuclear regulatory body, in September 2012 to oversee stricter operating rules. 6, 2020, in Iitate, a northeastern Japan village near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, shows a fence set up on a road to bar entry to an off-limit area ahead of the 10th anniversary of the earthquake-tsunami disaster and the subsequent nuclear crisis. Around 160,000 people were evacuated at one point. 1-3 reactors subsequently suffered core meltdowns, while hydrogen explosions damaged the buildings housing the Nos. Q: What was the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the immediate wake of the disaster?Ī: The Nos. 4-6 units were already offline for maintenance at the time. 1-5 units, causing the cooling systems to fail. But flooding from the tsunami cut off the power supply for the Nos. 1-3 reactors had automatically shut down due to the strong shaking and were initially cooled by backup generators. in the Pacific coast towns of Futaba and Okuma. Q: How did it affect the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant?Ī: The tsunami following the massive quake engulfed the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operated by what is now Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. Combined photo shows a tsunami-hit area (top) in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, on March 27, 2011, about two weeks after the earthquake-triggered disaster in northeastern Japan, and the same area (bottom) pictured on Feb.
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